ice-out

After ice-out, this is one of the first lakes to open up for the soft-water season.

However, this conclusion was based on the assumption that no delay in ice-out would occur.

Any Mainer knows the real harbinger of spring is ice-out.

Originally the Ice-Out designation was decided by people on shore.

The exact date of ice-out depends, of course, on the weather.

Ice-out dates have been recorded on Rangeley Lake since the 19th century.

But a lot of people think of ice-out as that moment when the ice has vanished from the lakes and ponds.

Even our ponds act as a compass this time of year, with ice-out occurring in successive meltings toward the north.

There are two contests where the public can bet on when Ice-Out will occur on the lake.

There is a definite synergy to ice-out.

If they can get rainbows to spawn four months earlier than they would in the wild, they'll have fish to release soon after ice-out.

During a typical year, spring trout fishing starts right after ice-out (beginning of May) with a flurry of fast action.

Everyone is waiting for ice-out.

Ice-out was late but melt had progressed to near-normal in late April despite cool temperatures.

Technically, ice-out is when enough of the ice has vanished so that a lake or pond can be crossed by boat, end to end.

Meticulous records are kept of ice-out.

For me, ice-out was now official.

Because the Ice-Out designation is based on the judgment of one person, it is unscientific.

Waiting for ice-out is a rite of spring in Maine, just as the first robin, or the crocuses, are in other places.

Early Italian explorers supposedly once saw a ships prow sticking out of the mud during a spring ice-out.

Ice-out was a partial function of mean June temperature. The open-water season lasted 2–3 ms.

Ice-Out records have been kept since 1887 as a way to keep track of when both commercial and passenger transportation lanes became usable in the lake.

Ice-Out is declared when the Mount Washington can get to all of its ports of call.

With ice-out, so went the caulking opening up a seam one eighth inch wide by nearly one hundred feet long.